Moorestown High School (MHS) hosted an exhibit on Oct. 9 that provided its students with a profound opportunity to engage with history directly, prompting critical reflections on the dangers of antisemitism, intolerance and prejudice today.
“This is about learning the lessons of history so that (students) can apply them to their lives today, apply them for the rest of their lives and in the future,” said Todd Cohn, CEO of Hate Ends Now, an organization committed to combating hatred and indifference by educating people about the history of the Holocaust and all forms of bigotry.
“Hate Ends Now: The Cattle Car Exhibit” is housed inside an exact, historic replica of a World War II-era cattle car – the type of rail car used to transport millions of individuals to concentration and death camps. Inside the vehicle, students experience a 360-degree, 20-minute multimedia presentation featuring historical footage and the recorded testimonies of Holocaust survivors. The traveling exhibit also features several original Holocaust artifacts that all belong to Darrell English, an artifact collector who has amassed roughly 10,000 WWII artifacts including an estimated 3,000 items directly tied to the Holocaust. With help from an anonymous donor, the exhibit has been brought to local schools throughout New Jersey by the Jewish Community Relations Council’s Esther Raab Holocaust Museum & Goodwin Education Center in Cherry Hill.
Earlier this summer, Helen Kirschbaum, director of the Esther Raab Holocaust Museum & Goodwin Education Center, connected with MHS English teacher Perri Geller-Clark to see if the school would be interested in bringing the exhibit to the students. Kirschbaum and Geller-Clark have worked together in the past, so the connection was already there. After running the idea through MHS Principal Andrew Seibel and Superintendent Dr. Courtney McNeely, and after getting the logistics for the exhibit approved, Geller-Clark, MHS teacher and supervisor of humanities Roseth Rodriguez, and additional school staff worked together to bring the exhibit to the students. “Hate Ends Now” is more than an exhibit, Rodriguez emphasized, but an opportunity to help students understand history, recognize the human consequence of hatred and prejudice, and consider their own responsibility to create a more passionate community and world.
“There is a great deal of diversity here (in Moorestown), more than one would necessarily think, and I think that’s important as part of this as well,” Geller-Clark noted. “This addresses the state’s mandate that we have Holocaust education and genocide education in school (all New Jersey schools must incorporate that at multiple grade levels), so this really helps us to address that… This is an amazing way to reach them through a valuable experience.”
“There are moments in history that simulation is completely inappropriate for, but we would never do that. We’re using artifacts and stories to humanize and help students connect and see themselves in the people whose stories they’re hearing,” Rodriguez said. “(From this), I hope that they’re able to recognize when there’s hatred and they’re able to speak life into it and speak up when something is morally and ethically wrong.”
“Hate Ends Now: The Cattle Car Exhibit” is housed inside an exact, historic replica of a World War II-era cattle car. The exhibit visited Moorestown High School last month.
During World War II, cattle cars were used to transport Jews, Roma and others to ghettos, killing centers and the German Nazi concentration camps across Europe, including Auschwitz.
